With the pandemic and uncertain economic situation, you might be wondering how to help if you can't go out to volunteer or spare much money.
Introducing BOINC: it allows you to donate spare computer/phone power to scientific projects. Turning regular PCs into supercomputrers 1/?
Introducing BOINC: it allows you to donate spare computer/phone power to scientific projects. Turning regular PCs into supercomputrers 1/?
Once installed @BOINCNetwork runs in the background performing a little bit of complex calculations, without slowing down your actual computer use (some tweaks might be needed).
Users can subscribe to projects ranging from maths to COVID to agriculture 2/?
Users can subscribe to projects ranging from maths to COVID to agriculture 2/?
Nerds from the 1990s might remember BOINC from Seti@Home.
As setup can be a bit daunting and there's over 30 projects to choose from, we'll use @WCGrid as an example project after we go through installation on multiple platforms. 3/?
As setup can be a bit daunting and there's over 30 projects to choose from, we'll use @WCGrid as an example project after we go through installation on multiple platforms. 3/?


Video instructions by someone else:

Again there's a video I didn't make:
5/?

If you want a GUI you'll need both boinc and boinc-manager. You might need to manually launch boinc before opening the manager for things to work 6/?

There's no iOS app to my knowledge, so we move on to projects and setup next 7/?



We'll pick World Community Grid and create an account when prompted. You'll need the login details later.
Why @WCGrid btw? It's a bit like a container: you can pick as many of the following areas to help: COVID, agriculture, cancer, AIDS, TB, microbiome 9/?
Why @WCGrid btw? It's a bit like a container: you can pick as many of the following areas to help: COVID, agriculture, cancer, AIDS, TB, microbiome 9/?

How do you decide which @WCGrid projects? By logging into the website and finding a menu item called My Projects.
https://www.worldcommunitygrid.org
As an aside, yes you can get set up straight from there ignoring all I've said so far, but my way works for other projects too 11/?
https://www.worldcommunitygrid.org
As an aside, yes you can get set up straight from there ignoring all I've said so far, but my way works for other projects too 11/?
Example of non-WCGrid projects:
- Asteroids@Home uses your graphic cards to learn more about asteroids
- Rosetta@Home mostly medical molecular bio
- NSF@Home Number Field Sieve factorization of large integers (I don't know what this is either, but it's maths) 12/?
- Asteroids@Home uses your graphic cards to learn more about asteroids
- Rosetta@Home mostly medical molecular bio
- NSF@Home Number Field Sieve factorization of large integers (I don't know what this is either, but it's maths) 12/?
This should get you started on your BOINC journey. My personal experience is limited to Linux and Android versions but I can try to help if needed.
Options > Computing Preferences if where you play around if BOINC is being a bit greedy with your resources btw 13/13
Options > Computing Preferences if where you play around if BOINC is being a bit greedy with your resources btw 13/13